He’s got a brief window of time to get into how he pulled off producing and directing the upcoming film “Draft Day.”

Fifteen minutes, to be exact — the same amount of time that Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver Jr., played by Kevin Costner — has as official wiggle room in Radio City Music Hall to make the overall No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, with his coach (Denis Leary), capologist/love interest (Jennifer Garner) and owner (Frank Langella) yelling in his ear.

At least, according to this Hollywood version. You know how long 15 minutes can go.

Reitman isn’t about to waste any precious moments here as the buzz starts to pick up for this movie that opens Friday nationwide:

Q: Based on your background with some of the classic comedies of all time — “Animal House,” “Ghostbusters,” “Stripes,” and the success you had with “Up In The Air” — some were surprised you decided to take on this NFL-related film. Why was it appealing to make that leap?

A: It’s a wonderful script. Great characters. An explosive story that surprises you and keeps surprising you. It almost feels like you’re watching a great football game without ever actually having to be on the field. It was definitely different from anything I had done and that made it fascinating. There’s lots of funny in it, but it’s much more dramatic. But the key thing is I thought it was a really good challenge for me.

Q: What about the challenge of making a movie that takes place in a 12-hour time frame, adding to the tension and realism of the piece?

A: Part of what makes the whole thing work is, much like the draft itself, the movie is up against the clock with all these things happening on a personal level and on the football side. Everything is coming up against a deadline. It seemed like a tight, compact thriller, actually. And it plays like a thriller. That’s part of the reason people have been really responding to it. The great surprise is that people who know nothing about football really like it as much as those who know a lot. That’s very gratifying.

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Q: Maybe that’s related to Kevin Costner as well. People who liked “Bull Durham” or “Field Of Dreams” might not have cared at all about baseball but enjoyed it anyway.

A: Exactly. He responded to it on that level, and on a sports level too. The movie is very accurate. I’ve had a lot of people who are professionals at all levels — coaches, players, general managers, owners, agents — who have all sort of, ‘That’s exactly the way it is, that’s the way people talk to each other.’ We worked really hard to get that right.

Q: When you got the NFL on board to make this all seem real, you had to film about 20-something scenes on a restricted time schedule during the real NFL Draft last April. How were you able to get that done and not disrupt the proceedings? Can you take us through all that?

A: I’ll tell you, we wouldn’t have made the movie without the NFL’s involvement. I didn’t think it worked, and I wasn’t interested in it if we were watching fake teams in a fake league. One of the great things I was allowed was to shoot at Radio City Music Hall while the actual draft was happening. I mean, it required a lot of series of meetings with big people involved from every department in the NFL to work out all the logistics because that has to literally go like clockwork — we’re back to the clock again — during those four days.

I had to know this wasn’t my show, it was their show, and I was piggybacking on it. I worked it out so we were never in the way and they were very helpful at every stage. We had to make an arrangement with ESPN and NFL Network to use their stages and film with their key personnel who are in the movie. Although I shot them while the draft was going on, I still had to have them come in the next morning at 10 o’clock to shoot close-ups where they did all the actual dialogue for the movie. And that included them wearing the same clothes they had the night before. Even the commissioner, who had to come in and do all the introductions of our characters.

Q: They were OK all wearing their clothes again?

A: Yeah, they were cool about it. I had 100 percent compliance, I gotta say. It’s that kind of stuff I had to be very organized about, very nimble and on top of it. We’re shooting the 2013 draft when it’s really supposed to be the 2014 draft, so we had all these special things with “2014” made up that they let us hang here and there. No one noticed the cars we used had the “2014” cards on them. They were just looking at the players.

Q: Did it feel like you were shooting a documentary at some point?

A: Yeah, and part of the style of the film is a documentary, but it’s complicated visually. There are a lot of phone calls going on, so I had to get fancy with how I did split screens that’s unlike anything that’s ever been done before, and I’m really proud of.

Q: As important as it was to have Costner as Sonny Weaver, was it just as key to have ESPN and NFL Network people playing themselves to give it realism?

A: Absolutely. And there are a ton of real players in terms of small and larger roles, too. I think we tried to get it right. For people who really know football, there are a lot of delights all through it, things they’ll get and it resonates. But as a movie it works by itself, too, without all those things.

Q: Is it kind of absurd to you how much attention is paid to the NFL Draft now that it’s become this annual multi-day TV show?

A: I think “absurd” is the wrong way to put it. It’s remarkable, and it’s one of the reasons I like this story, as well as Costner’s story, and the football team’s story. It’s about the rookies, and three stories are featured prominently as the film goes in ours. These are life-changing events that are once in a lifetime. The players come for all sorts of backgrounds, representing kids who have been playing all their lives working to this point. Going to practice seven days a week at odd hours in the hopes of becoming a professional. It’s serious stuff for them. And sometimes things go very well. And often things don’t go quite so well. They drop where they think they were going to go. There’s lots of stuff to get excited about.

Q: There are comparisons made to “Moneyball,” that this is football’s answer to that. Is that a fair comparison?

A: People say that because it’s an inside look at a major sport in a very honest way, and from that point of view, I think so. But that takes place over a couple of years, while this takes place over half a day and it’s much more emotionally packaged and charged. It’s like watching a single game. But not a game on the field, but in those war rooms across the country. I’ve been told by countless people that we got that part really right.

Q: You’ve lived and worked in Southern California long enough to know there’s been an NFL drought. Was there anything you could say to Roger Goodell in dealing with him that might have pushed getting a team back in L.A. along a little bit farther?

A: Well, I asked him about it, actually. And he was very enigmatic. I think they want a team here from what everyone says. It’s these things are really complicated. It has to be the perfect balance of a powerful owner and a good place to play that fits the NFL scale. I don’t think they’ve found that yet. And where could that team come from, but I don’t think they want to have 33 teams. Those are all things they tell me are in play, but that’s really not my expertise. I’m just a film-maker. And I wanted to tell a really good story.

Q: I believe Goodell reads from a script when people ask him that question. Are you a fan of any certain team then?

A: It’s funny, I’ve really been following Seattle the last few years. I’ve got sort of this betting group that gets together on Sunday mornings during the season, have breakfast together and argue about stuff. And then bet on the games that day and have this trophy to give out at the end of the season. I’ve been doing that about 20 years and it’s a lot of a fun and a great way to stay close to my friends.

Q: That sounds like a movie script someone should be putting together.